Jun 17, 2009 11:10 pm US/Central
3 Months Still No Title for Hecker Customer
(WCCO)
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Greg Guffey bought a car from Hecker's Southview Chevrolet in Inver Grove Heights but it took months to get his license plate and he still hasn't received the title for his car.
CBS
Part of the Denny Hecker investigation centers around customers who paid the dealer for a title and license plate. The dealer is supposed to pay the state, who then sends the proof of ownership to the buyer for the license.
Hecker is accused of not doing his part and new owners aren't getting their title or plates. Greg Guffey is one of them.
In March, Guffey knew of Hecker's trouble with Chrysler Financial. Guffey figured since he was paying cash, he wouldn't have any problems at Southview Chevrolet in Inver Grove Heights.
"It was pretty straight walk-in, sign the check and do the paperwork, go home," Guffey said.
But it turns out there was some trouble.
Guffey got his temporary tag and waited for his plates.
"I get a couple days from the end and my 21-day permit is about to be up," he said.
Southview told him they weren't sure what was going on and gave him another tag.
Under Minnesota law, a dealership has 10 days to pay the registration and taxes to the state. Once its paid, you get your plates.
When Guffey's second tag was about to run out, he turned to the state.
After he proved he paid, the state got him plates. But 117 days later, still no title that he paid
more than $500 for.
"Clearly they don't have the cash to be able to make these payments that they're supposed to make," said Guffey.
Now, that dozens of boxes were carted out Southview, Guffey's not sure what it means for him.
"Will this speed it up now that there is this pressure and all this publicity around it? Maybe. Or now that they've raided the corporate office does that completely shutdown everything and now everything is at a complete standstill? I don't know where this leaves me and the other folks that are in this situation," he said.
Guffey said he drives around with all of that paperwork in his car, just in case he's stopped by police. If he gets in an accident, he'll get the go-around from his insurance agency too, just trying to prove he owns the car without the title.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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